


you'll never sink when you are with me

by derheck



Series: taz drabblets [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coping, Drowning, Gen, M/M, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 23:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derheck/pseuds/derheck
Summary: He sees ribbons of color, so stark and bright against the black nothingness of the lake.And he goes to investigate because he feels it deep down, calling to him.  A call that, despite a sliver of unease deep underneath, pulls at him like a gentle current.  There’s something there in the array of colors that he cannot resist, a temptation.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is some shameless and self indulgent projection of my own traumas and phobias onto a character lmao 
> 
> WARNING: this goes kind of into detail about kravitz and his whole drowning ordeal during the suffering game, so definitely trigger warning for drowning!!!

It’s the silence that draws him out.

Usually, there’s all sorts of sounds coming from the lake; the sounds of spirits, the sound of gentle lapping water.   

But at this moment?  There’s nothing. 

He goes outside, finding the silence off putting, but it’s his duty to make sure everything is running smoothly.  

He reaches the lake and he finds what he hears.  Nothing.  There’s nothing.  

Except- in the distance, he sees it.  He sees ribbons of color, so stark and bright against the black nothingness of the lake. 

And he goes to investigate because he feels it deep down, calling to him.  A call that, despite a sliver of unease deep underneath, pulls at him like a gentle current.  There’s something there in the array of colors that he cannot resist, a temptation. 

And suddenly the enticement is gone and around him there’s choppy waters, like those of an ocean on a particularly bad storm, and how the fuck did he not realize the waters earlier?

And just as he’s about to turn back, to report to the Raven Queen, to do  _ something _ , the ribbons of color- which he now sees are a part of some sort of black ooze- they reach out and they pull him in. 

Kravtiz is already dead. He doesn’t need to breathe and he can’t drown.  He knows this.  But as the lake’s water and maybe the black ooze force their way into his lungs, he knows that this- this is different.  

The water burns his lungs in a way that it shouldn’t.  And there’s sort of a fading inside him and it feels like before- when he died.  

He’s dying again, he realizes.  Somehow.  

He doesn’t want this.  He doesn’t.  

He tries fighting against it, swimming against the pull.  He reaches out and he feels air and he trashes, succeeding in briefly breaking his head through the surface of the water.  As he breaks through, he sees maybe the last thing he ever expected to see in this moment.  

There’s Taako, serious determination on his face, arms outstretched, reaching for Magnus.  

Taako, Magnus, the black ooze, the drowning- everything is too much, has been too much for the past whatever minutes.

And suddenly, the ribbons, they pull harder, and the panic that had been dwelling in his chest becomes overpowering.  The ribbons, they twist and wrap around him, squeezing tightly around him, making dancing along to the push and pull of the lake, as they pull him deeper and deeper.

He struggles for who knows how long.  Minutes.  Hours.  Days, maybe.  He spends it having the breath squeezed out of him, choking on water, gagging, fighting.  But finally,  _ finally, _ he breaks free again and this time, he knows better.  He’s quicker and he has a sudden burst of strength that allows him to hoist himself onto land.  He feels the ribbons begin to pull again and he’s fast to cut them off himself with his scythe.  

He looks up and around, hoping to see Taako, or Magnus, or anything, but he sees nothing.  Just inky black nothingness.  

He tries to open a rift and nothing happens.   He tries to call the Raven Queen, and for the first time since joining her, nothing happens.  

And he looks up again, taking everything in, allowing everything to settle, and he knows that he is alone. 


	2. Chapter 2

And just like that, he’s awake.  

He sits up, breathing heavy, nausea nestled in his gut.  The much too familiar sense of panic has his chest feeling tight and tears stinging in his eyes.  He tries to slow his breathing a little shakily and then starts as two arms wrap around him.  

He freezes, terrified, thinking for a moment that he didn’t escape the lake and these are just the ribbons wanting to pull him in deeper again.  

But then he hears Taako’s sleepy voice asking him what’s wrong.  

“Nothing,” Kravitz says, his voice not nearly as steady as he wishes it would be.  

“It sure doesn’t seem like nothing,” Taako murmurs, but not exactly pressing him for details.  He knows that Kravitz will talk about it when he’s ready.  “But hey, I’m up, I can make you a little something to help you feel better, maybe some hot cocoa and pancakes.”  He kisses Kravtiz’s temple and makes to get out of bed, but Kravitz hands go up to hold Taako’s in place.

“Can… can you just hold me?  For a little bit?” Kravitz asks.  

“Yeah, babe, whatever you need.”

And Kravtiz closes his eyes, waiting for the phantom rocking of water to subside, as his boyfriend’s arms hold him tight, and he knows definitely that he is loved and that he is not alone.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't... just leave it at a bad ending lmao  
> thank u for reading <3


End file.
